I’ve been watching tons of MLB and loving the races this season. I just can’t seem to get over baseball (roid reduction has really improved the game, though someone needs to test Chris Davis…that roid head is going to prevent Cabrera from winning back to back triple crowns). Anyway, I read this article by Canzano today, and then looked up Brosius’s career numbers:
Scott Brosius enters his sixth year as Linfield head baseball coach. During his first five seasons, Brosius has compiled a 158-64 win-loss record while leading the Wildcats to three Northwest Conference championships and two regional titles.
We all knew he was doing well, but I’m not sure anyone knew he compiled a 71% winning percentage. I’ve been calling for Brosius as Casey’s replacement for years, but if he continues to win at this rate, he’ll eventually be lured away. So my question is this: if you’re the AD, do you (a) make this guy a lucrative offer to join staff as an assistant, with the understanding he’ll be the next head coach (b) make him a lucrative head coaching offer or (c) forget about him all together and stick with Pat Casey. I know most will say C, but Casey talks retirement every season and could bail on the Beavs any moment–that takes away some of his value. I think I’d go with (A)…use some of that TV money to lockup a future head coach. Brosius doesn’t want to leave Linfield, but everyone has a price.
On a side note, the basketball practice facility opens in a few weeks. I guess some have been in there already, but teams start practicing end of July. I’m curious to see if it actually improves recruiting and on-the-court results.
Head coach in waiting is usually not a great plan. The chance that it goes all according to plan is small. How many coaches in waiting have been successful vs not? Unless Casey has strongly indicated this will be his last year, then A would be an option.
It didn’t sound like Casey was thinking retirement in any interviews this year. He’s 54, not exactly retirement age. It seemed like the years he was talking retirement, the team makeup was taxing him. If you recall he said a while back, the guys on the team were more looking at making pro ball than winning titles. This group now is all about titles and less about pro ball. That makes things easier on a coach when he doesn’t have to worry about them staying focused. If he can continue to get guys who’s goals are Omaha, then I see a lot more years ahead. I just don’t think any of the options are there since Casey doesn’t appear to be retiring any time soon.
But say Casey gets another team he doesn’t like (which is possible any year due to the draft)…it’ll be the same narrative where he’s burnt out and wants to retire. Yeah, he doesn’t want to right now, but that changes yearly based on his team/mood. I don’t believe the situation is stable even though he shows up every spring.
Don’t you think that sends a bad message? If the situation was unstable and you brought in Brosius, aren’t you effectively firing Casey?
I don’t know. Maybe not if you explain the situation up front.
I am trying to reconcile two ideas:
1. Casey wavers a lot…he’s wanted to retire at least twice if not more.
2. Brosius is a great coach, and it would suck to lose him.
Beavs are always slow to spot replacements. Jonathan Smith should be the O coordinator, for example. Opportunity constantly passes them by.
Brosius’s record had caught my eye and I too thought he might make a good successor to Pat when the day came, but I worry about the signal it sends to Pat.
Concur on Smith as OC. What that means, in effect, is that if Riley leaves Banker is the heir apparent.
Which reminds me, whatever happened to the guy who was Erickson’s OC, whom some thought should succeed Dennis?
Erickson had a few. Noel Mazzone was one….
In this case, it’s a little too hasty to put in a succession plan with a guy with the stature of Casey. He’s earned the right to go out on his own terms.
The position they should be trying to put a succession plan is for the AD position. My guess is that DeCarolis will retire before the end of his current contract due to him dealing with Parkinson’s disease.
K-Rod pushed him to the brink of retirement (pure speculation)
I like (a) but we need to remember that Brosius played in the MLB for quite some time so money might not be the number one motivating factor. It would be great if the Beavs could get him on the staff as Casey’s successor but it may be a tough sell.
I’m worried about a situation where Brosius moves on to MLB, and the next year Casey gets moody and retires. Beavs need to stay local imo since all their best recruits are from Washington and Oregon and can’t think of any other local guys (retreads like Pat Murphy, if he’s still in Oregon?).
Even if Brosius came here, I’d actually be more worried about him leaving than Casey. He’ll be a hot commodity, and he doesnt have any ties to Corvallis. Casey’s family liking Corvallis is a big part of the reason he’s still here.
Dont get me wrong though, I’d love to have Scotty be the Beavs coach at some point. He grew up near me and is a quality guy. On top of that, how many college teams have a World Series MVP for a coach. Instant credibility with recruits.
Go beavs
Why fret? When Casey does leave, the program should still be in a place where it attracts a high profile manager. The Beavs could always buyout his contract wherever he goes (buyouts probably a lot smaller in college baseball). Beavs could use PAC-12 money. Corvallis should also be at the top of his list .
Not fretting too much, but I think it’s smart to prepare, in general, rather than get caught off guard and have no plan. Seeing Brosius #25 in the OP article made me think he’s probably going to keep moving up, and then out of State.
I remember writing this article a few years ago: http://angrybeavs.com/athletics/2391
Beavs didn’t plan for that and the run game wound up hurting for a few years. Read the comments in that thread…interesting stuff.
SB may not sit on the sidelines but probably wouldn’t hurt to build that succession plan, especially when Casey has flirted with retirement in the past.
OT– Maybe I could get Mike and Langs… http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/22683592/man-wants-browns-pallbearers-so-team-can-let-him-down-one-last-time
I too like Brosius as the next coach at OSU. Angry is right about having a good succession plan in place as they can’t afford to make a shitty hire and have the program fall apart. Kind of like when they hired McKay and John in men’s basketball. The program was down but feels like they hit rock bottom with “up and comers.” At least with Brosius, he has a nice pedigree and solid experience as a college coach. I also like Pat Bailey as he was successful at George Fox, but I think he’s about the same age as Casey, so maybe not.
I’m holding out on this year for Craig Robinson and pray that he can finally get things together in conference before I call him a bad hire. They have talent, but he really needs to get back to the schemes he ran his first two years if he has a chance at getting back to the tourney. I know Nelson and Moreland were working in the facility recently, but they all need to get in there and work on their game. That I leave up to the players as Robinson can’t force them. Casey credits part of the baseball program’s success to being able to use Truax to work out in during the fall and winter, particularly with base running skills, etc. but he had a lot of leaders on those teams that set the tone for the other guys. Some of the men’s players need to step it up in that department as well as Robinson improving his coaching ability to get the program going again. CR has improved the program, but fans should ask for and deserve better than CBI appearances and 8th place finishes in conference play.
Do you guys know Brosius’ opinion of OSU?
Never heard him speak either way about it.
I played for Brosius for one year at Linfield. He made it pretty apparent when he got hired that he was a lifer there. I know a lot of coaches say that, but there was something different about his attitude, and his reasons such as growing up there and having strong relationships with his assistants and Carnahan make me tend to believe that he is being truthful about that. His family loves McMinnville.
Brosius also went to Linfield and so the alum thing comes into play. I just finished at Linfield and can see why Brosius loves it there. It’s a great school!!! Thinking of possible successors, has anyone thought about OSU possibly going after Andrew Checketts? OSU alum, Casey player, and current coach at UCSB. I can forgive him for being a Duck for awhile. He’s also a good recruiter for them and I think did more than Horton has for that program.
I like Checketts as a possibility but UCSB is a pretty good gig and I would think he would only come in when Casey retires and not in a coach in waiting capacity.
He’s a good choice, and I think his name came up during the ucsb series. Only concern would be if he still has recruiting ties. Beavs get most of their best players from Washington these days.
I would go after Checketts after Casey retires too as that gives him time to build his program at UCSB. He is certainly doing a nice job down there. Another thing I would recommend to the new coach is keeping Andy Jenkins on as an assistant, especially if he can prove himself as a valuable recruiter. Casey really likes him and from interviews he seems to be cut from the same competitive cloth as Casey.
Beavblazer….. Good luck today. Hope littlle violator_ is on schedule and healthy. JB
Very much apreciated, and great memory PBH. We’re actually at the hospital now and expect a new Angrybeav by the end of the day. Thanks!
OT: http://www.capecodbaseball.org/news/week/index.html?article_id=1548
Too bad Dylan Davis’ bat heated up a few weeks to late. Hopefully the Beavs can get someone to hit in the 5 spot next year that can protect Conforto & Davis.
Batting Hayes 5th cost them a lot of runs. Hayes doesn’t have much pop, despite his size, At least put a contact hitter like Keyes there. The 5 hole is tricky…managers always think you want power there. Really you want average. 1-4 should have high OBP and almost always do, so 5 just needs a high average to drive them in. OBP is somewhat overrated in the 5 hole, too. .330 is actually acceptable if the hitter doesn’t k often and hits for high average (i.e. the obp comes from hits rather than walks). Walks are worth less than hits as you move down the lineup. Keyes was at .380, which was completely wasted in the 6 hole.
People will say “angry, Casey has won championships blah blah what you do know.” Well, I won championships in national statistical baseball simulations, so suck it.
The ideal lineup would be:
Peterson
Smith
Conforto
Davis
Keyes
Hayes
Barnes
Rodriguez
Gordon
Ideally you want a lefty 2 hitter. Keyes in the 5 hole gives left/right protection since he’s switch hitter, too. For this reason you could put him #2 so ground balls to the right advance runners, but then you have Smith 3 and David drops to 5. Hayes at 6 wouldn’t be good protection. I’d try both and see. Casey went with the worst option, though.
Also, 7-9 should be arranged according to 2 out batting average and RISP average, since those are the situations the 7-9 hitters find themselves in most, and hits in those situations boost the value of a 7-9 hitter.
They have a baseball statistical simulation competitions?
Yeah, it used to be called dlfans. I believe they moved to simnasium.com, which uses the excellent diamond mind engine (I own this on disc and run simulations on it…highly recommend it for anyone interested in baseball simulators or stats, in general).
I don’t know if the competition is the same over at simnasium, as I haven’t played since the migration (2004 or so).We had between 5k and 8k players any given year (I finished ranked somewhere between 20-30th all-time). If anyone wants to do an AB simnasium league I am so in.
count me in. that sounds dope.
I’ll mark you down.
I have a friend who will do it. We’d need 9 more.
It looks like teams are 25 bucks each.
Anyone else interested?
OT
Anyone notice that the football team has been using the new tartan print on their marketing efforts? I’ve seen it in at least three places and so far they all look like someone is trying too hard to fit it in (cue BeavGopher).
Here is an example…
http://beavertickets.com/mini-plans-2/football/?KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=30800&DB_LANG=C&IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT=
I like it. I wish it were used more, but still with restraint. Need a sportcoat made out of it to wear with “Hip Hip Hooray!” socks to home games. How’s that for restraint?
Don’t forget the Bear Bryant style hat. You would have to beat the babes off with a stick in that get-up.
looks good, would love to see that more and more.